Masquerade facade
by Cojuribuji
Summary: Muggle born Maddie had a small 'people problem'... She didn't like them. At all. They her feel extremely uncomfortable, so She's always tried to stay under the radar and be invisible. But will a certain boy who's caught her eye be able to change that? And will he ever know who she is? After all, the first time they really spoke, she was wearing a mask at the Yule ball. Draco x OC


Chapter 1

Birds and bugs

A/n- I warn you- this chapter is kinda rushed since I hate introductions and ideally I'd like to be in my main plot line within two more chapters and this one is super super long haha, but I promise the chapters will get better and (if I get feedback that this was far too long,) shorter lol anyway- enjoy ;)

((Ps: if you review with feedback, CONSTRUCTIVE criticism is welcome, not "worst story ever" or "this has one of the worst Mary Sues I've seen in ages"

Thanks :) ))

Maddie hated summer. It wasn't the pesky bees that seemed to aim to fly into her face or the wasps that would chase her out of her Garden when she tried to enjoy the flowers. It definitely wasn't the fact she missed school in the holidays. It wasn't even the heat, to be quite honest.

It was just that she loved winter. She missed the snow and ice and big puffy jackets and coats and gloves. Most of all the hats- especially her favorite deep blue thick knit beanie- were useless and stupid looking in the heat of summer... It was also that she favored ice highly and had the rare special ability to make small snowflakes magically appear in her hand without the use of her 9" blackwood and dragon heart string curvy wand. She didn't know where this ability had come from, both her parents were muggles so it wasn't an inherited trait. After 14 years, however, she'd just accepted that she would never know how she got her power.

She stared out of the window of the Hogwarts express and sighed at the blue sky and warm rays of sun while she slowly spun a flake in her palm. Her robes made her feel sweaty in the humid temperature and she wished her ice magic would have any other effect but melting in the heat. If it could cool her down, she'd drench herself in the flakes! But for some strange unknown damn reason her snow flakes were never cold- or at least no to herself.

Maddie was going into her fourth consecutive year at Hogwarts and her goal for this year was the same as every other year-'keep your head down and keep your grades good, don't draw any unnecessary attention to yourself'. She'd never liked attention and managed to get through the past three years without much notice and without noticing much of the people around her. She wanted it to stay that way. Hey- she'd survived unscathed with that tactic so far!

Maddie had long umber hair that she let fall and cover the her face like a curtain and deep blue eyes that stood out from her freckled pale skin. She was quite skinny, but her short height always seemed to make her look a little fuller than she actually was, but she always wore baggy cloths so it never bothered her anyway and fashion wasn't exactly her highest priority either.

She made the snowflake in her palm disappear and smiled. She was so happy to finally be going back to Hogwarts and to be away from her awful older sister for once, Theadora- the evil muggle 'witch' (bad term). Theodora (Thea) was the polar opposite of Maddie- she a loud mouth with a fiery temper, long wavy jet back hair that was always up in a fashionably messy bun atop her head and sharp cat-like neon blue eyes. Unlike Maddie, Thea was tall, confident and elegant in her strides- she had no problem making friends and being the centre of attention. Although Thea was a year younger than Maddie, she liked to act much older, looking and behaving years older than she was. Often Maddie had called her a tart and gotten a slap in return.

The silence of the empty carriage and her thoughts was broken by her dark brown coloured barn owl. It screeched and beat his wings against his cadge impatiently. Usually by now, Maddie would have let him fly alongside the train, but the last time she did that, he went missing for several days... And came back with a broken beak from flying into the train from becoming too tired to keep up with it for such a long journey. Stupid thing...

She had little patience for the owl as it caused a ruckus and drew attention from people passing outside her compartment. She blushed and pressed herself against her seat in an attempt to hide herself as they peered in while they passed. She wasn't exactly what you would call a 'people person'. She had a small problem being sociophobic and it meant she had very few friends because of how uncomfortable she was around people. So total strangers staring at her obviously made her feel quite uncomfortable. She tried shushing the bird but he'd been quiet for a few hours now stuck in the stuffy cadge and he'd had enough. He wanted out. Or food. Or both. Or whatever!

"Not long to go." She growled agitatedly as she put her finger against the bars and let him nibble the ring on her index finger to keep him happy and quiet. She owned three rings on her fingers- a blue gem with a silver band on her left index, a plain sliver and gold entwined band on her left middle and a ruby studded white gold ring on her right thumb, all of which she got for her birthday at the start of the holidays.

Why she had to be born into a hot month such as July she had no idea... It was not a month that suited her at all. Frosty November or late October perhaps... Thea had been lucky, in Maddies opinion, to be born in March, the very end of winter and the start of spring.

A knock on her compartment door made her turn and a familiar face pressed itself against the glass.

"Seamus." She smiled as the one person she could actually have a fun conversation with opened the door, walked in and dumped a newspaper and a licorice wand on the seat beside her. She grinned widely at the treat and opened it, shoving a bite into her mouth with a big 'thank you!' as he laughed. He knew her well. Very well. Well, he had known her for four years now- he should at least know her favorite sweet by now!

"That's Since I missed your birthday, Madds! And I Thought you might wanna read up on what's been happening. Poor you spending the summer with muggles." He sat opposite her after bending down to giver her a quick hug. If there was only one person in the whole magical world who defied her anti-people nature, it was that boy. He mainly took the lead in conversations which took an insane amount of pressure off of Maddie.

Seamus had been her best and closest friend since the beginning of Hogwarts. They first became friends when a few older nasty students pretended to be ghouls in her first week at Hogwarts and chased her until she curled up and cried in a corner while they laughed. All of a sudden a bright light and a deep voice echoed down the halls and scared the boys, thinking it was the bloody Baron. And so did Maddie as she shut her eyes and shivered. But a hand on her shoulder made her look up with red puffy fearful eyes. A kind faced boy grinned down softly at her and put his wand against his throat- the scary voice from earlier asked if she was alright. Maddie slowly laughed once she realized he'd been the one that scared off the mean boys. To make her feel better he gave her the last licorice wand from his pocket and was happy to see how much she enjoyed the treat. He'd always been there to fend off the bullies and protect her like a brother. Ever since then they'd been an inseparable duo.

"You're a life saver Seamus." Maddie picked up the paper and grinned through another bite of her sweet treat. Her parents were muggles that didn't like anything magic in the house, so this was the first time all summer that she'd seen a paper from the magical world. God how she'd missed the moving pictures and magical news! The word 'Quidditch' caught her eye and she turned with a sad pout to Seamus,

"Did I miss the Quidditch World cup?" But as she turned to the front page again, the heading and picture sent a shiver down her spine and to her finger tips, the edges of the paper stiffening a little with the spreading ice.

'Terror at the Quidditch World Cup' and a picture of the dark mark slowly roaring in the sky.

"Oh my god... The- that's the dark mark right?" Seamus nodded. Arnie hooted again and he pulled out a small bag of pumpkin pasties from his pocket, pushing some crusts between the birds bars as Arnie dived at the food and calmed his screeching.

"Yeah... was scary for a while back there. At least the Irish won." He half heatedly joked trying to lighten the mood, watching Maddies pale face but slowly she laughed too.

"How did this happen?"

"No idea. Death Eaters were all over the place after the match."

"Must of been scary..." Seamus shrugged and grinned proudly,

"Not for me! Tough as a dragon skin!" He puffed out his chest and Maddie laughed, poking his gut, making him double over. He laughed and poked her back.

"Anyway...How was your summer?" He said after they had a small poking war and she sighed, holding out her hand, palm up, another flake popping out of no-where to hover over her skin.

"Terrible." She shrugged and focused as hard as she could to make the snowflake bigger with little success, much to her disdain, only covering her palm in a light dusting of ice.

"You didn't freeze your parents did you?" He chuckled and Maddie bit her lip sheepishly. Seamus' face dropped and so did his jaw.

"Really?!"

"No! I'm joking!" She laughed and sent the snowflake flying into his face. It disappeared as it hit his nose and he stuck his tongue out at her childishly, then crossed his arms over his chest- waiting for her to keep talking.

"I just... Scared them is all..." She muttered and swung her legs up next to her on the seat, hugging her knees. Seamus stayed quiet- silently urging her to go on. She exhaled and shut her eyes.

"I got mad and... Yanno how Thea is-she's always bullying me?" Seamus nodded. He'd heard about Thea several times before. Maddies muggle sister was incredibly jealous of her magical abilities and made her life at home hell because of it. Seamus often heard about their fights.

"Well she grabbed me after I walked away from an argument and she went to punch me but..." She bit her lip and swallowed a small giggle. Seamus fought back a smile as he guessed what she had done.

"I kinda pushed her back on her ass with a burst of ice." She wriggled her fingers in front of her, the tips still white with frost and let her giggle out. Seamus laughed.

"I couldn't believe I had THAT much power and her face was hilarious..." Her own face dropped its smile.

"But you can imagine what she told mom and dad..." Seamus sat beside her and put his arm over her shoulders as she sighed. He was happy she'd gotten her own back on her vile sister, but she couldn't do anything about her parents- especially since they always threatened to keep her from going back to Hogwarts every summer.

"Forget them Madds. You're back at Hogwarts soon! Plus your staying over Christmas right?" He nudged her hip with his and smiled. She grinned back and nodded.

"I'd stay all summer if I could, too!" He chuckled and looked out the window.

"I'd better get changed. Almost there." He winked and left her to sit alone as he went off to grab and change into his robes.

Arnie hooted loudly and Maddie sighed in defeat, opening the window of the compartment wider and picking up his cadge.

"Be careful you dumb thing." She warned as she opened the cadge and laughed as he scurried from its confides and out the window with a happy screech. He flew alongside the train for a few seconds then flew up and straight towards the castle in the distance. Maddie smiled to herself as she saw the familiar peak of the castle.

As soon as Maddie stepped into the Griffindor common room after the feast, she took a moment to breathe it all back in. She'd missed this place more than anywhere else over the holidays- the warm shades of red and gold invited her in as she climbed the staircase to her room. Out of the three others she shared the room with, she only spoke to one. And unfortunately, all but that one person was in their room and unpacking.

Maddie shied against the wall as she entered and made her way quickly to her bed. The others knew about her shyness to people and didn't see her actions as anything but Maddie being Maddie. She bent down to open the trunk at the end of her bed and pulled out a pair of pajama pants, a black tank top and her old blue hoodie that she used for lounging about in. While the others went back into the common room, she quickly changed and dug around in the magically extended depths of her trunk until she found her old little purple iPod. She smiled and unraveled the wire of the earphones, stuffing the pods into her ears and pressing the 'shuffle' option on the screen. She skipped the first few muggle songs until she heard the guitar intro to an old country favorite of hers.

She turned up the volume and laid on her bed with her eyes shut. She listened to several more songs before she felt the pressure of someone else on her bed. She opened an eye and was met with the face of her likeable room mate who peered over her. Maddie smiled and pulled an ear bud out.

"Hermione," Hermione smiled and sat beside Maddie on her bed. They side hugged and Hermione held a thin book out to her.

"Thanks for lending me this for the summer. I must of read it twenty times!" Maddie giggled and took back her copy of 'The Great Gatsby'.

"Good right?" Maddie hugged the book to her chest, happy to have it back. She's recommended it to Hermione before summer break after finishing it a day before the holidays and offered to lend it to her,

"It was brilliant! Lots of symbolism. Very clever. It was like the author could see into the future! Unlike professor Trelawny..."

Hermione and Maddie were the self proclaimed 'book worms' of their house and that's how they first started to be friends. It was an easy relationship for Maddie. The majority of the time the two spent together was either just reading or talking about what they just read. It kept Maddie throughly in her comfort zone and it was only really in classes or in their dorm rooms that they had to interact much.

Being another muggle born helped a lot in their friendship too. They both understood the strife of muggle life and they talked about their boring unmagical summers while people slowly came to bed one by one.

"Did you go to the World Cup?" Hermione asked as she got into bed. Maddie shook her head and chewed on her thumb nail.

"No, but I head what happened. You?" Hermione nodded and frowned.

"It was awful after the match. There was people running around and screaming and floating in the air being tortured everywhere. I was terrified." She shivered slightly and Maddie nodded in understanding.

It must have been near midnight when everyone was in bed and sleeping. Maddie quietly reached into her trunk and pulled out a sealed paper bag and silently crept out of the room. She tip-toed down the stair case and grinned at the sight of the empty common room- tinted an orange glow by the still roaring fire.

She parked herself in front of the fire and transfigured a nearby forgotten quill into a long pair of tongs-a trick she'd taught herself last year for this very reason. She heard someone sit on the couch behind her as she used the tongs to hold the bag over the flames.

"I'm glad we still do this!" The Irish voice behind her whispered and she grinned as the bag began popping, the kernels inside heating up and turning into light white puffs of popcorny goodness.

Every first night back after any holidays, a small tradition had been started where the two would make popcorn camping style and just sit, eat and joke quietly. They were too exited to sleep, but also the news of what happened at the World Cup was likely to give Maddie nightmares tonight anyway...

"So what do you think about the beauxbatton and durmstrung students being here?" Seamus asked through a mouthful of popcorn. Maddie shrugged.

"More people to get used to." Seamus laughed.

"Don't worry Mads! All eyes on the Triwizard cup this year- not you." Maddie playfully hit his arm and grabbed a handful of popcorn.

"Shame no under 17s allowed. I'd like to see Fred and George in that competition- I bet they couldn't take it seriously even if they were about to die!" He threw the empty packet in the fire and watched the flame burn green for a moment as the bag turned to ash.

"They'll find a way." Maddie chuckled. Those twins from two years above had made quite a riot about being too young to compete at the feast. They were the clever inventors in their house and always up to mischief.

"Can't wait to see what they do." Seamus chuckled and laid back in the arm chair. Maddie leaned back in her seat and the two continued to make up all the possible schemes the twins might conjure up just for a laugh, although they knew they had no chance at all for entering such a dangerous competition underaged...

Although they really regretted it in the morning- Maddie and Seamus stayed up all night- eventually playing a few rounds Wizards Chess and nibbling on a box of Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans. Maddie had almost woken her dorm mates laughing when she saw Seamus eat a vomit and lemon flavored bean, but Seamus had his revenge when she ate a cheese toenail flavored bean and gagged.

They sat beside each other sleepily in the great hall, nibbling on toast and sipping orange juice, trying to keep their eyes open.

Harry, Ron and Hermione sat around them, Hermione next to Maddie, Harry opposite Seamus and Ron opposite Maddie. She blushed and hid behind her orange juice when the boys greeted her and Hermione uttered an apology, knowing that she wasn't comfortable with the boys yet- only really starting to interact with them at the end of last year when things went barmy with their DADA teacher... Speaking of which, they seemed to have an odd DADA teacher this year too... He'd made quite the entrance at last nights feast- fixing the ceiling when it turned thundery.

Maddie shrugged and shied closer to Seamus slightly. He chuckled and swung an arm playfully over her shoulders, leaning on her and failing to keep his eyes open. Maddie yawned and poked the handle of the butter knife into his cheek to wake him up. He jolted upright and faked a scowl making Maddie giggle and partially forget Harry and Ron while Hermione chattered away with them. Seamus broke into a grin when he saw Maddies shoulders go from tense to relaxed as professor Mcgonigal walked up their table, handing out their time tables.

Maddie kept her head down as she walked by herself to Transfiguration, Seamus had gone to catch up with Dean and Maddie had just nodded him on, taking a while longer to eat.

The halls were less crowded with people this morning with people waking up so late, so she wasn't panicking too much.

Getting herself used to the halls when loads of students were running through them usually took her a few days into the school year, especially since she spent a summer on her own away from mass amounts of people. Her sociophobia often had relapses when she was away from people for a long time.

A first year ran past her, then back, then past her again- a scared look on his face.

'He must be lost...' Maddie mused as she tried not to look at him. She cursed under her breath as he grabbed ahold of her sleeve.

"M-miss? Where's the Potions classroom?" She softly pulled her hand away and cleared her throat to find her shaky voice.

"It's uh... Just down this hall, two lefts, pass the Gargoyle statue and down the staircase to the dungeons."

She quickly turned on her heel and kept walking towards her own class. The first year yelled a 'thanks!' And scuttled off to his unfortunate potions lesson... Maddie shook her head at how clueless the boy was and turned to open the door to her Transfiguration class.

As her hand rested on the handle; about to pull it down, three loud boisterous voices laughed close behind her, turning towards the class door.

She quickly pressed herself against the wall to the left and stared at her feet as the infamous blonde slytherin and his loyal cronies strutted past her without a second glance.

Every day for the past four years that blonde bad boy had walked past her to class or to the great hall without so much as a sneer her way.

She knew it shouldn't bother her, but she had always had a small secret crush on that bad Draco Malfoy that she couldn't seem to rid herself of. And by secret I mean she hadn't even told Seamus. Of corse she'd never tell Hermione- she and the other two of the Golden Trio despised Malfoy...

Maddie knew there was no reason for the Draco Malfoy to even glance at her- the quiet little mudblood... She wasn't loud or popular or sociable or even a fellow slytherin. But then again, would she want him to? Would she be able to stand his eyes on her when she couldn't even bear her roommates looking at her?

And even so! She was a Griffindor! She wouldn't be seen dead fancying Draco Malfoy.., wouldnt she...? Gah! Teenage emotions are confusing!

The boys arrogantly burst through the door, immediately getting scolded by professor Mcgonigal for interrupting her lesson.

Maddie broke out of her daze and took her window of opportunity to sneak past them and shuffle into her seat beside Hermione. Beside Hermione in class, no one even noticed Maddie was there. Hermione did all the talking and the spells that Maddie couldn't quite grasp. Plus it meant Hermione didn't have to sit beside someone who got annoyed by her know-it-all nature, so it was a win/win for them both.

Maddie looked over her shoulder as Seamus and Dean wandered in and smiled at them. They waved back and sat at the desk behind them. She was fine around Dean now, especially since whenever her and Seamus were together, Dean often tagged along. They weren't close friends, but she got along with him all the same- well, she could look him in the eye at least.

Soon after the boys sat down, professor Mcgonigal began her lesson: birds into quills.

"Aviariato." Hermione sang as she waved her wand and the small blue bird in front of the girls swirled and turned into a large blue feathered quill. Maddie smiled at her friends success and turned to the small raven in front of her that cawed tauntingly at her as she tried several times to transfigure the bird.

Most of the class had finished and Maddie was beginning to get frustrated -hissing the spell with no other effect than one of its legs turning into the quill tip. She growled under her breath, blushing crazily when she felt a few eyes on her. She cleared her throat and tapped the bird with her wand, saying the spell once more, but the bird just turned a shade of orange.

At her tempers end, she swung her hand at the bird to shoo it away from herself. But much to her and the class' surprise, the bird didn't fly away. It couldn't. Because as soon as Maddie had swung her hand, Hermione whispered the spell and the bird transfigured into a motionless quill.

She turned to Hermione with a small smile as the class listened to Mgonigals Explanation on how to turn the quills back to birds.

"Thanks." She whispered and Hermione shrugged with a proud grin.

"No problem Maddie."

Seamus nudged the back of her chair and she turned around with a smile at him.

From the corner of her eye she could see Draco leaning back cooly in his seat, twiddling his transfigured quill in his fingers. She blushed and turned back around, practicing the new spell, noticing a light frosting of ice on her desk where she had swung her hand and her fingertips had turned pale white...

As Maddie Seamus and Dean walked behind Harry Ron and Hermione to DADA, they all chattered about the new teacher they had seen at the start of year feast.

"He an auror right?" Dean asked as they made their way the class room.

"That's right. He's a close friend of Dumbledores, too." Hermione answered.

"He's mad. Mad Eye Moody. Used to go after all sorts of Dark wizards. He's barmy now! I wonder if he's even sane enough to teach..." Ron whimpered. Harry shrugged his shoulders, seemingly undeterred, but stopped dead outside the class door, not daring to go in and face the new demented teacher.

"After you." He and Ron smiled shakily at Hermione. She rolled her eyes and grabbed Maddies wrist, pulling the poor girl along with her as she opened the door and waltzed in.

Moody wasn't there yet, but some other students were. Maddie shied away and snuck off from the front where Hermione sat herself to sit near the back beside Seamus. She noticed him chewing and raised an eyebrow. He noticed and grinned, still chewwing.

"Sweetly Sour Fancys. Want one?" He held out a small bright green and orange coloured bag, blowing a bubble with the gum and it burst with a small 'pop' when it grew too big.

Maddie shook her head and looked around the class room.

"Just as well... They lose their taste so quickly. You got a tissue?" Maddie shook her head and motioned to the silver bucket filled with balls of scrunched up paper near the front.

"There's a bin up there, though." Seamus shook his head and decided to keep chewing the flavorless gum.

Maddies eyes scanned the shelves and tables around the room. There was all types of things in here that hadn't been before. Lots of strange bug-like creatures she had never seen. She stared fascinated at the bugs in the glass jars on the shelf closest to her and watched as they crawled and slithered about over bits of old decaying bark and patches of sand.

She didn't have a problem with bugs- in fact she quite liked them. It was just the brightly coloured yellow and red and green ones that reminded her of poison that she disliked. The brown and gray ones she would happily hold in her hands if asked to.

As she stared at a blue beetle trying to tip over a leaf with its antler like horns on its nose, the door burst open and a large figure limped quickly in, flicking his wand to slam the door shut behind himself. Immediately, he lunged for the black board and picked up a piece of chalk, scribbling the words 'professor moody' with a harsh line scraped beneath the words.

Moody's large blue eye whirled around the class quickly before the he began to speak.

"I'm Alistor Moody- ex auror, I'm here because Dumbledore asked me- end of story, goodbye!... Any questions?" The class remained silent, slightly shocked from his introduction.

Maddies eyes lingered on the revolving large eye of Moody's before glancing back to the little blue beetle (who had fallen on his back and wriggling his legs manically to flip back over) then quickly down at the desk.

"Today... We shall be learning about the three unforgivable curses!" Her eyes shot to the front. What?

Preview for the next chapter ;D

"Oh no way, Seamus..."

"You'll love it, I swear..."

"C'mon, Madds, just trust us, eh?"

"Let's make you look beautiful for tonight!"

"Seamus!"


End file.
